Chinese Fintech Giant Ant Hires New General Counsel

Ant Financial Services Group, a Chinese financial technology company formerly known as Alipay, has added Jonathan Zhou as general counsel.

Zhou is a founding partner of Fangda Partners, a Shanghai-based law firm that he started in 1994 and gradually grew into one of the most profitable in mainland China. Fangda, which has roughly 600 lawyers, has been a longtime legal adviser to Ant, which has been touted as the world’s top fintech company with a $150 billion valuation.

Fangda worked with Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz and Sidley Austin in representing Ant on its sale of a 33% equity stake ...